PLAYSPAN Inc. and Gala-Net Inc. announced the launch of beta service today for Upshift StrikeRacer, an online racing game.

Having the PlaySpan service added to Upshift StrikeRacer provides our players with the ability to trade their in-game items in a safe and sanctioned manner, states Jikhan Jung, CEO of Gala-Net. We are very excited about providing peer to peer item sales in our games. And PlaySpan provides a proven, scalable and secured system that has been proven with multiple games.

PlaySpans system integrates into the game inside a widget. As an official, publisher-sponsored service, the application is a secure and reliable way to buy and sell goods without leaving the game.

We are extremely excited about launching with Upshift StrikeRacer. This shows the power of virtual commerce in the different environments; our system and services benefit hardcore MMOGs as well as more casual titles like Upshift, says Karl Mehta, CEO of PlaySpan Inc. Players of Upshift can now trade lower-ranked cars and items once they advance to more advanced parts of the game, and enjoy the game more with real-world microtransactions.